Launch 25 th May 2007, Royal Society of Edinburgh SAGES Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment & Society Theme 2: the carbon cycle John Grace: University of Edinburgh Iain Young: University of Abertay

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Statement of Problem: we see an unprecedented increase in greenhouse gases and these gases cause warming of the planet but we need new knowledge and understanding to find solutions

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme Annual increase 3 Gt Land sink 1-3 Ocean sink about Atmosphere: +3

Carbon Budget in the 1990’s (Billions tonnes C y -1 ; Royal Society Report, 2001) Fossil fuels, cement 6.4  0.4 Land use change (mainly tropical deforestation) 1.7  0.8 Increase in atmospheric CO  0.1 Ocean uptake 1.7  0.5 Tropical biospheric sink 1.9  1.3 Temperate and boreal biospheric sink 1.3  0.9 Q1 Where are the carbon sources and sinks?

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Q2 How stable is the soil carbon? Theme 2 Temperature (degrees Celsius) Soil CO 2 flux (μmol m -2 s -1 ) UK Finland Perhaps the terrestrial sink will become a source

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Q3 Where are the sources of methane?

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Q4 What are the lateral transports of carbon ? Theme 2

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Export from land to river to ocean is under-researched

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Q5 Can we monitor the carbon cycle? Theme 2 Roedenbeck et al 2003 Units: gC/m 2 /year

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 The SAGES tool-kits

CO 2 exchange between land surface and atmosphere- the toolkit Hyperspectral remote sensing of land use Flux sensor Eco-dimona aircraft Tall tower, Angus Fluxnet physiology Earth Observatory

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Observe processes at small spatial and temporal scales, what are they, how do they behave? Observe fluxes at large scales models

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 All terrestrial life depends on it –Soil ecosystem services are valued in excess of £100 Trillion p.a. We are wasting it –>18% reduction in organic matter in UK since 1985 –2.2M Tonnes lost to erosion each year in UK –Globally, at current loss rates, there is about 200 years of productive topsoil left POST report, July 2006 Env. Agency 2004 report Soil: a vulnerable part of the C- cycle: Hard-to-access, teeming with life: more individual organisms in a handful of fertile soil, than the total number of human beings that have ever lived.

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 There literally can be billions of individual organisms in a relatively small area. 1g of soil = c. 20m 2 In 1 g of soil we have: c. 10,000 protozoa  7 x m 2 c bacteria  4 x m 2 c. 5 km fungi  1 x m x % 5.5 x % of the total space is covered

Toolkit for the soil

Predicting solute and gas flow & retention to within 10%

Prediction of greenhouse gas production in soil

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Where in the world?

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Where in the world?

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 Also we’ll work in in our own back-yard Expect land use will change Expect climate change impact Farming and forestry will change: carbon forestry? Nature conservation issues Biofuels likely to have a role

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 NERC-CTCD (soon NCEO) Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management International Polar Year FLUXNET Forestry Commission/Forest Research DEFRA NERC-CEH Scottish Crops Research Institute SUERC NERC-TROBIT Carboeurope-IP and IMECC ABACUS Carbonfusion FLUXNET IGBP-AIMES Some of our Affiliations & sponsors Current projects

SAGES Theme 2: Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Theme 2 The carbon theme is often policy-relevant